Brainstorming about potential applications of product data:
 
 
Wolfgang Orthuber (University Clinic Schleswig Holstein) gave a quick demo of his work at http://nummel.com which focuses on similarity matching, particularly when there are multiple criteria / preferences / priorities that can be expressed numerically.  In the situation of searches for matching products, this could be very useful when a consumer wants to sort the candidate matches in order of closeness of match to their profile (e.g. organic, gluten-free, fair trade, etc.)
 
Monika Solanki also remarked that nummel.com could be useful for one of her projects, where they are using algae biomass to produce energy and need to determine where are the best places to grow it in north-west Europe, taking into account multiple factors such as carbon dioxide needed, nutrients, sunlight etc.
 
Tesco (Andy Hedges, Richard McKeating) saw applications where customers have particular needs or preferences, particularly in the case of allergens.  For those with nut allergies, it could be fatal if the information is unavailable or incorrect.
 
We also discussed about consumer-facing applications (maybe web apps or mobile apps) that allow customers to configure their preferences.
 
John Walker (NXP) said that NXP already have a data dictionary that they use for describing the attributes of their products (primarily electronic components).  It currently aligns with eCl@ss product categories rather than GPC, but they’re willing to donate this data dictionary to a not-for-profit standards development organization (such as GS1) because there is then a better chance that their partners and competitors might use it and align with it, than if it is perceived to be an NXP data dictionary.
 
As well as comparing the technical features of a product, it is also important to consider the social experience of products, including consumer evaluation and feedback (ratings, reviews, recommendations, troubleshooting tips etc.)
 
(mainly Tesco / IBM – Martin Gladwell) There was discussion about retailers providing feedback to suppliers, particularly about products that were on promotional offers and about ensuring that there were no / minimal out-of-stock situations for products.
 
John Walker (NXP) mentioned that in the electronics industry there are some data aggregators (e.g. IHS, UBM) who scrape data without the consent of brand owners such as NXP and this can cause problems when the data aggregators introduce errors into the data, since it damages the reputation of the brand owner, even though the brand owner doesn’t have any control over the process – so in some ways, mechanisms that enable the brand owners to publish authoritative master data about their own products and components might eliminate these problems.
 
Martin Gladwell (IBM) mentioned that there are other dimensions / considerations beyond price, such as proximity to the store, convenience of pick-up location and their opening hours, the urgency with which the customer needs the product.
 
Michalis Vafopoulos (National Technical University Athens) is particularly interested in public spending and understanding whether governments and government departments and agencies are paying excessive prices for products that are bought under government tender contracts.  (This reminds me of a news article about the UK MoD paying excessive prices for lightbulbs http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12643966 ).  Michalis considers that Greece is paying inflated prices particularly on pharmaceuticals and they really need transparent price comparison, so that they can compare with open market prices and the prices that governments in other countries are paying.  There was also some discussion with Tesco and others about generic (unbranded / retailer own brand) pharmaceuticals versus those from the big pharma companies, especially when the actual contents are functionally identical – e.g. for ibuprofen tablets etc.  Martin Gladwell (IBM) remarked that he’d even seen packaging lines where the same product was being packed into a variety of packages – some for the big pharma manufacturers but also some for retailer branded products.
 
Tesco (Richard McKeating) remarked that in the end full transparency of the product’s technical data may become a ‘zero sum game’ and that companies would then need to differentiate themselves on their added value in terms of consumer experience, convenience.  Malcolm Gladwell (IBM) remarked that an example of this could be seen where companies (e.g. NatWest bank) were bringing their call centres back into their native countries because customers preferred to be dealing with someone locally and speaking with a more familiar accent.
 
There was also some discussion about access to aggregated statistics about popularity of products.
 
Regarding standardized semantic links to product-related services / information, particularly for use while browsing in store / online or after purchase, the following were mentioned:
 
·      Recipe suggestions for food products
·      Extended warranties
·      Spare/replacement parts, refills and accessories
·      Brand-owner provided forum for product discussions / support
·      Community-supported forum for support / troubleshooting
 
(N.B. in wrap-up session, Dan Brickley expressed interest in these, from a schema.org perspective.)
 
Monika Solanki also asked Tesco about how they might use open data sources to plan the location of stores (e.g. to understand local demographics, socio-economic factors, transport connections).  Open weather data could also be used for localized planning which product lines to stock (e.g. snow shovels,  barbecue equipment / food or umbrellas)
 
Tesco also mentioned about the possible use (by consumers) of the GPC product category to find products of the same category and make comparisons with such products.  This could also be of interest for brand owners introducing new products, to think about how to differentiate their new product from existing products, if the existing product master data is openly available.
John Walker (NXP) was particular concerned about their ability to customize products especially to meet the demands of product integrators.  E.g. a mobile phone manufacturer might want to introduce a new thinner lighter phone and could use product master data schema to specify geometric constraints on the size of the display or other components.  Tesco mentioned that customized products (e.g. customized specifically for Tesco and exclusively available at Tesco) were particularly of interest to Tesco buyers who source products for sale in stores.
 
Monika also mentioned about traceability – e.g. for the ingredients in ready meals.
 
There was some discussion about being able to identify the country of manufacture / origin, especially when buying online.  Andy Hedges (Tesco) remarked that some manufacturers of camera lenses might have production sites in Japan and China for nominally the same lens, but that those from Japan were of higher quality and that as a keen photographer, he had ordered such lenses online and returned them until he obtained the version manufactured in Japan, rather than China.
 
NXP also commented about the proliferation of cloned parts – particularly in electronics – and the need for brand owners to be able to do physical authentication of the products they produce, in order to know whether the complaint or warranty claim concerns their own product or a cloned product that illegally uses their branding.
 
At the wrap-up session, Hadley Beeman asked about the opportunities to use product classification schemes such as GPC, eCl@ss to map to existing tariff codes used by customs authorities, in order to speed up customs clearance – ‘greenlaning’.  Mark remarked that this is already of interest to GS1 New Zealand (and possibly other national offices of GS1).